Book Review: Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

Goodreads synopsis: 

Two misfits.

One extraordinary love.

Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.

Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.

Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.

328 pages

4.21 average rating on Goodreads

Published: 2013

Genre: YA, Contemporary, Romance

I LOVE this book! I had heard so much hype about this book and I was worried that it wouldn't live up to my expectations, but it completely surpassed them! 

Eleanor has grown up in some unfortunate circumstances, and has just been allowed to move home after her stepfather kicked her out (for a year!). Park is a nice boy who has been raised with everything he wants at his fingertips. The two first cross paths when Park tries to save her from bullying and humiliation on the bus. 

It becomes routine that the two sit together and they SLOWLY (almost too slow for my liking) form an unlikely friendship by bonding over comic books and music. The two start spending more and more time together and soon realize they're falling for each other. 

Eleanor knows she can never tell her mother, as her stepfather would kill her (literally), but she is desperate to be with Park. Park wants to help Eleanor but she won't open up to him about her life at home.

One day when things take a dramatic turn for the worst, Park helps Eleanor one last time.

The book ends quickly after this - there is no real closure. You never get to see Eleanor and Park together in the same place again, you never hear another conversation, you never hear what becomes of Eleanor's mom or siblings or stepfather (though no one cares about him). I would love there to be a sequel or even an epilogue so that we could see more of the relationship that we saw the beginning of.

This book was funny, witty, emotionally gripping, and I give it 5/5 stars, though I do wish there had been more answers at the end. I cannot wait to read more brilliant works by Rainbow Rowell.

If any of you have read this please let me know what you thought of it !! 

Books I've Read Lately

Because I'm so behind on book reviews, and honestly can't remember the in-depth details of some of these, I've decided to just do a quick little cumulative review of the books I've read recently:

1. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien 

To be quite honest, I didn't get into this book until it was almost over. I know this book and The Lord of the Rings series are quite popular, but I just couldn't see what the hype was about. Perhaps if it were read as a children's bedtime story as Tolkien originally intended, it wouldn't be so bad, but I didn't enjoy it much at all. Now that I've finished it I don't think it was quite so bad, but for a book of its size it took me quite some time to get through simply because I wasn't interested in it. Definitely don't think I'll be reading this again unless I decide to someday attempt TLOTR series.

Overall rating: 2/5 Stars

2. The Choice by Nicholas Sparks

This book was quite a fast read, and a typical cutesy, contemporary love story as I've come to expect from Nicholas Sparks. While maybe not one of my favorite books by this author, I did enjoy it and finished it pretty quickly.  It was well paced, the characters were relatable, and of course the dramatic twist near the end makes you think and put yourself in the situation. A few tears were shed over this book but not many.

Overall rating: 4/5 Stars

3. Sweet Misfortune by Kevin Alan Milne

I've actually had this book sitting in the bottom of my bookbag for the entire school year, untouched, and when I found it last week I considered not even reading it, as the premise sounded fairly predictable and nothing I'd be interested in anymore. That being said I decided to attempt it anyways, since it was fairly short, and ended up really liking it. Sophia Jones, the main character, comes Fran troubled past and is quite different from most characters I've read about lately. I found her blunt pessimism oddly refreshing, and the general cutesy plot of the book wasn't bad either, although I didn't particularly like the main male character. I probably won't read it again but it was a quick, easy and enjoyable read that I'd recommend for Summer simply because it's something slightly out of the ordinary. 

Overall rating: 4/5 Stars

If anyone has read or is planning to read either of these books I'd love to hear your opinion

Happy Reading! 

Xo